Giuliano Contadini feels like he was fated to play the role of Casanova in the new Northern Ballet show depicting the fascinating life of the world’s most famous lover.

“I’m proud to be an Italian and Giovanni Casanova was an Italian. His initials were GC and mine are GC!” said the ballet dancer, who has been working hard to create the role as part of a spectacular new production.

Even their noses look alike.“I like to feel the similarities to fill those shoes and they are big shoes to fill,” he added.

Giuliano, who comes from Rimini, said he has found him a fascinating character: “Giacomo Casanova is like everybody knows in the culture of the day, he was a sex symbol, but he was so much more.

“He was very Italian, he spoke five or six languages and travelled all of Europe and beyond.

He could play violin, he was a spy for the French, he was about a lot more than people saying, ‘you’re such a Casanova’.”

Casanova’s early life was formative in his approach to the world, said Giuliano: “He was abandoned by his mother at a young age and that has repercussions. He was amazing at adapting to every situation, that was how he survived, through making friends and losing friends.

“He was able to adapt and assess a situation and make the most of it. He could pick himself up again and make the right connections and be someone again.

“He was known throughout Europe about his escape from prison in Venice with another guy. They were the only two that escaped from this prison, so this story was known everywhere, it was such an amazing thing.”

The one thing we all know about Casanova is what Giuliano describes as his “countless interactions with women and men sexually”.

There are several beautifully choreographed sex scenes in the show, including the famous orgies.

Giuliano said that the great lover’s relationships weren’t just about sex, though, but building a connection with the other person.

“He connected food with sex. He would always bring exotic foods or have specific foods before sex. He wrote about all these different foods, which nobody did before.”

The show begins with his first sexual encounter with two sisters who were nuns that got him kicked out of studying for the priesthood and started him on his career of social climbing.

He was also being watched by the church’s inquisition for his fascination with the kabbalah school of thought that could land anyone caught with a book of its secrets in a torture chamber.

Giuliano admitted that bringing such a fascinating man to life has been a challenge. “You’re not just dancing, it’s the acting which is so important in this production.

“It’s about those days and what it meant to be alive in those days.”

He succeeded brilliantly at the world premiere of the show on Saturday in Leeds, which won him and the cast a rapturous standing ovation.

The dancer admitted that the show has been a huge challenge but a very exciting one. “For a ballet dancer, it’s a lifelong dream. I’ve never had the chance to create a leading role, it’s one of the most intense and exciting things I think you could go through. It’s so demanding.”